UP Core – A powerful Raspberry Pi rival that runs Windows 10

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UP has launched a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter for its new developer board, the Intel-powered QuadCore x86 UP Core. The Raspberry Pi rival is being billed as the world’s smallest quad-core, single-board x86 computer capable of running full Windows 10, Windows IoT Core, Android Marshmallow, and Linux options, including Ubuntu, ubilinux, and Yocto.

100-pin expansion

The coolest thing about the UP Core may be the new 100-pin I/O docking connector which enables support for stackable expansion boards to add capabilities to the base UP Core:

Expansion board A carries high-speed signals such as PCI-express, GbLAN and USB3.0 whereas expansion board B exposes low-speed signals such as RS-232/422/484, I2C, I2S, and GPIO. You may choose either one of the two boards or stack both of them beneath UP Core. The high speed signal expansion board shall always be the first layer beneath UP Core if you intend to use up to 3 expansion boards.

The makers of the UP Core say there is also a growing ecosystem of third-party hardware and software that works well with the board, allowing it to be used for industrial automation, vending, digital signage, IoT, home automation and robotics. However, as with other Raspberry Pi rivals, the UP Core won’t enjoy the range of software and community support that has grown up around the multi-million selling Pi since it launched five years ago.

The UP Core is fully funded on Kickstarter and is available for backers priced at €69 offering 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. Expected shipping date is from August this year. To learn more about the Up Core watch the demonstration video below or visit their Kickstarter page.